So word on the NBA streets is that Dwyane Wade yesterday became about 400 NBA players new favorite player. This is because at yesterday's labor negotiations, David Stern allegedly was talking to the NBA players present in a condescending manner and Wade had enough. He shouted back, "You're not pointing your finger at me. I'm not your child." For good measure, Wade kept on referring to Stern as "David." After the Wade smack down, the star players stormed out of the meeting and it took Billy Hunter to calm them down and ask them to return. Supposedly Hunter did this as a big favor to Stern who was facing a ton of embarrassment.

You can't blame Wade. He's severely underpaid compared to what a star like him generates for the league. Economists have speculated in an open market system the NBA elite stars would all be worth over $50 million a year. Here Wade took less than a max contract (makes about 15.5 a yr), so that he could add two stars to his team and now Stern wants NBA players to take a 20% cut and he wants rollbacks on contracts already signed. So imagine if you took less to stay at your job and then your boss all of a sudden didn't want to honor your contract and wanted you to now get paid an additional 20% less?

And before anyone mentions how overpaid athletes are and how the money should go to policemen and teachers, here are a few things to remember. One, stars in all industries get paid obscene amounts of money. Why? Because they bring in even more obscene amounts of money. George Clooney or Brad Pitt make more in one movie than an NBA star makes playing 100 games a year. Secondly, if athletes weren't paid millions, do you really think owners would give that money to policemen or teachers? No they wouldn't. They'd just buy more mansions.

If the players take a 20% pay cut, shouldn't ticket prices go down for us? Well they won't. I haven't heard one word from NBA owners or Stern that all this money that billionaire owners will save with this new CBA will benefit fans. This lockout is hurting fans and hurting the game. NBA owners aren't doing this for us. They're doing it to make more money.

Us diehard fans aren't going to abandon the game, but I wouldn't mind seeing some empty stadiums when/if this ever gets straightened out.

Basketball players need took invest money and let the owners go to bed and not even let them make money at all.. Basketball players got enough money to built their own every body should vote for all the players to start their own leugue.. Fag stern can watch the games from his hospital bed.....

Good for Wade. Stern is a bully - that is all he is. He isnt good at his job. He is claiming the current financial system in place is broke - well David, it is your system, the one you put in place after the last lockout. And Wade is underpaid - it is absurd that the top players in the NBA have to all be paid the same - that is what leads to bad contracts. That so many guys want, and get, max contracts, when really, guys like Wade, Durant, and only a few others, should get much more, while the rest of those guys get much less.

Compared to other leagues, the NBA has by far the most restrictions on its contracts - both rookie and veteran contracts.

A fair compromise - which will never happen - is this: the NBA wants a hard salary cap. Fine. But you can have the hard cap, you can keep rookie salary restrictions, but get rid of all other restrictions on contracts. So if the hard cap is, for example only, $60 million per season, and one team wants to spend $50 million of that on one player, let them. A hard cap ensures each team is only spending so much, while creating a level playing field, and stopping owners from feeling like they have to go over the luxury tax to compete. At the same, by removing the restrictions, it allows teams to pay a player what they think he is worth - not what the NBA says should be the max. The NBA teams should be allowed to be competitive without having to lose money - at the same time, it is not and should not be the players' job to protect the owners from themselves. So hard cap, no restrictions, should accomplish everything. But Stern won't have that - he wants to break the players' union, he wants to set up the NBA so that owners are protected from making bad decisions, and when they do, they can easily get out of it. But question - is it really in the league's best interest to have 4 year limits on contracts? Do you want a circus around LeBron every four years (or the next LeBron?) do you want star players after only 2 years pushing for trades? That is a ba job.

Sorry for the rant, but good for Wade. Hopefully this emboldens more players to stand up to Stern.

Money SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT go to police offers, that's for sure. They're a big fucking gang that stops innocent people and tickets them for violations that don't exist so they can meet their quota. Those cocksuckers should be laid off in abundance, except for towns that genuinely need them, like Paterson and Newark, NJ.

Give more money to nurses and doctors. Or people that rescue animals. Or firefighters. Or anyone else who makes a POSITIVE contribution on society. Not some baton-diddling douchebag who drives through red lights because he thinks he's above the law.

so you are saying a movie only takes an hour to make? what an idiot. i dont give a damn how much revenue the players bring in. do you not think factory workers bring in revenue? store clerks? overpaid is overpaid. if they are so unhappy making 12mil per year then let them walk. go get a job at the shipyards! the truth of the matter is that there are so damn many people out there that can play sports at a high level and would take alot less to play. fans will always be there. say what you will it is true. i recall the mlb strike when people were talking about how many fans were never going to go back to baseball games. the last time i checked i dont see a dropoff in attendance. so stop giving rationale as to why anyone deserves millions a year. there simply is nobody that does

If the owners don't make money the fucking players can't . The players need to own the team and then they can pay high salaries . They need a hard cap like the Nhl and entry level salaries like the Nhl not big signing bonuses

That's irrelevant, one thing is undeniable, NBA players, mainly stars, recieve a large amount of money that sounds like an atrocity regarding all the crisis and poverty problems proliferated around the world. Some players should be ashamed of even complaining about a 20% cut on their salary that would turn out like in 3 millions less. I like sports, and principally basketball, but it's just not fair that some guy who knows how to play ball tremendously should recieve more than a medic, a teacher, any other persons that has a direct influence on society.This happens not just in basket, its just about any sport. I don't defend any side of the lockout, but atitudes like this of wade, just tells how childish and selfish he is, not something i hadn't realised before though.

Wade is the idiot who took a pay cut to have Lebron and Bosh on the team anyway so thats his own damn fault...And who the hell cares if they are going to get a couple million less they don't deserve all that money in the first place when nurses, policeman and fireman are being laid off everyday. I don't see any NBA players saving lives. I'm so sick of all these overpaid "employees" complaining about their salaries, you mean to tell me they can't live off 15mil they can only survive on 20mil.

yeah ok, many guys in the league are underpaid. and a lot are overpaid. samuel dalembert makes 13 mil a year, just 2 mil off wades 15 mil. I think players can survive without having escalades with 30 inch. rims on them.

YEAH,I COMPLETLY AGREE.PLAYERS,OWNERS,STERN,ETC. ALL MAKE WAY TO MUCH MONEY,NOT TO MENTION THE MILLIONS STARS ALSO MAKE ON ENDORSMENTS.GREED GREED AND MORE GREED! ITS OUR FAULT THE FANS, WHY? BECAUSE WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO SPEND A WHOLE WEEKS PAY JUST TO TAKE OUR KIDS TO A BALL GAME.THE ENCONOMY IS HORRIBLE AND NOT GETTING BETTER AND GUYS THAT ARE GETTING PAYED TO STAY IN SHAPE,PLAYING A GAME THAT THEY LOVE ARE GETTING PAYED RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY DOING IT.YEAH IF THEY CANT SWING IT(LETS SAY GOING FROM 15 MILLION A YEAR TO AROUND 11.5 MILLION) THEN MAYBE THEY SHOULD GO FIND OTHER EMPLOYMENT

are you kidding? people are taking salary cuts and rollbacks to keep their jobs, even though they have contracts - and these people are working real jobs that make a difference in people's lives, making a fraction of what these overpaid crybabys in the NBA are making. These players are overpaid already - let them sit out for 5 years, most of these idiots would be making minimum wage if they were not in professional sports.

Wow!!!! Most of you guys sound like some big time haters.....Shit! If an owner of a NBA team makes 15 billion for the year, why can't the players make millions? What do you guys think the owner will do with more money? Hell, he is not a doctor or policeman either but I don't hear anyone saying they are overpaid. If I worked my ass off to get the NBA and made it, I would want to get paid big bucks as well! So stop hating the players of the game because if it wasn't for them, who would be watching or attending NBA games?

We Fans can resolve this "lock Out" by organizing and making it known to Team Owners that We're not coming to Games unless they open up camps and give the Players the share of the Billion Dollars Pie that the Players should have. No one, and I repeat it, no one is coming to the arenas to see the Team Owners. We support Teams, but we especially support Players! The facts speak for themselves. We FANS need to show up and start pressing the Owners to open up the Camps.

I'm saying this because I've seen what is happening with the NFL as a result of their lockout. Many top players are coming up with injuries because they didn't have the use of the top flight Team Facilities. Many injured players, like Peyton Manning for example, didn't have the use of top notch medical doctors in Team facilities to help with their recovery process. Star Players are still injured and most Teams have more injuries at the quarter point of the Season than what I believe would be the normal injury rate. I don't want to see the same foolishness happening to NBA Stars! Players can't get ready for the rigorous NBA Season playing pickup games and having no top flight training camp. The NBA is asking for injuries to great players and those of Us who have played organized basketball know that! Disaster awaits the NBA if they don't resolve this "Greed" grab by Owners coming through Commissioner David Stern.

The Billionaire Owners are getting every Tax Break imaginable, holding up Cities and Counties for all kinds of one sided Owner benefits, and the Greed for dollars is still not enough if the Owners tell the story. I believe most of the NBA Owners have mismanaged their Franchises and now they want the Product, the Players, to come to their rescue! I say if you're an Owners and You can't make money, sell YOUR Franchise to a better businessman or group. Don't lie to the public and tell Players Your Teams are losing money. SHOW THE BOOKS on what the liabilities versus income show. Let the facts speak for themselves. Show the Real Books and not the doctored ones! We know most of the tricks the Owners play and we're not falling for the nonsense again!!

Finally, the Greed needs to stop by the Owners. We Fans must be aware that the Owners, even if they get most of what they want are going to RAISE ticket prices on everything connected with NBA basketball. This is a Grab for Dollars and the Owners don't care about Fans like You and I. So, We Fans need to make the moves to Stop the Lockout so We can Save the Game We Love. The Owners don't Love the Game, they just want MONEY!!

"Stars in all fields make an obscene amount of money"....Um...how 'bout no. Stars on a team, stars on the screen, some stars in government and stars on Wall Street are about the only ones who make obscene amounts of money. Stars in the classroom, stars on in uniform, stars in the factory, stars in the farm, star small business owners, stars in the hospital and stars in MOST fields actually don't make anywhere near what an athlete makes just blowing their nose. They're just as valuable to their fields as athletes are to sports.

Regardless of how much revenue is brought in, and regardless of what the owners would do in any situation, you're honestly going to stick up for these over-paid, over-priveleged pre-madonnas COMPLAINING about making more in a week than most normal people would make in a lifetime??? With common sense life planning , most athletes never have to worry about financial or job security. EVER. EVER!!! And not just the top tier ones like Wade, even the lower-level guys who aren't household names don't have to worry! They already make obscene amounts of money from just their sports contracts, let alone the money they can make during and after their careers in other fields. Their status as professional athletes immediately garners them a pantheon of opportunities at a local or national level through endorsements, TV announcing, sports talk radio, etc. etc. etc. I know you can't just give money made from the NBA to people who actually work or serve their country for a living, and who honor their contracts, but jeeze, cant these bozo owners and bozo players just get a little perspective and realize that there are real people with real problems out there who don't even want to be bothered with more lock-out nonsense?

Yeah...If I worked my ass off playing a FUCKING GAME for my entire life I'd want millions too. Problem is, I've worked my ass off my entire life trying to build a fucking career, and ya know what, I WANT MILLIONS TOO...Too bad I'm still looking for work and I barely have enough money from my last job to cover my expenses. So excuse me if I feel very little sympathy for someone who's ego leads them to complain about making 12 million fucking dollars per year playing a god damn game!